Flowers Bloom in Cabin Four
by Fishpony
Summary: A moment of peace in a more overlooked cabin. May become a oneshot series.


**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO**

**Flowers Bloom in Cabin 4:**

"Hey, diddle diddle,

The cat and the fiddle,

The cow jumped over the moon,

The little dog laughed to see such fun,

And the dish ran away with the spoon,"

Fauna muttered as she watered the little potted chrysanthemum on the window sill. The youngest member of the Demeter cabin always recited nursery rhymes, whether it be "hey-diddle-diddle" or "baa baa black sheep", whenever she took care of the plants. She claimed it made them grow faster and while her older more experienced siblings knew better they humored her and also watered their plants like that. At the moment Foster and Lucian, two of Fauna's brothers, were weeding a large petunia planter and singing twinkle-twinkle-little-star very off-key.

Nicolette, who was, at fifteen, the oldest of the half-siblings rolled her eyes, "They'll make the plants get out of their pots and walk away," she whispered to Fauna.

The five year old giggled and tugged on her other sister, Celia's sleeve, "Did you hear what Nicky said? Did you?"

Celia nodded and winked at Nicolette, "Yes I did Fauna and I agree. If they want to sing badly they should go to the Apollo cabin."

Though Lucian and Foster did not hear the last comment they both shared knowing grins. The boys, ages eight and ten, processed the kind of mischief that they would use on their sisters in the efforts to gross them out. This was exactly what they were going to do.

"Hey do you know what Kendra told me?" Foster asked in an unnecessarily loud voice. Nicolette and Celia groaned in unison. Kendra was a daughter of Athena who had a stockpile of gross, weird, or completely random facts. Did they know that a cockroach can survive for months without its head? No, and they hadn't wanted to know it either.

"She said that ring-around-the-rosie actually is talking about the Black Plague!" Foster exclaimed.

"Yeah because things were burned to keep the disease away!" Lucian added unhelpfully.

"That's disgusting!" Celia exclaimed, wrinkling her nose. Just the thought of a harmless nursery rhyme being linked to a sickness made her want to barf.

"And baa baa black sheep is about the slave trade," Foster continued.

Fauna looked confused by this new knowledge but Nicolette wasn't buying it, "That's ridiculous. Go live in a shoe."

"Give him broth without any bread," Fauna added primly.

Celia tousled her little sister's unruly brown hair, "And whip them both soundly and send them to bed."

All three girls laughed amongst themselves while Lucian and Foster just glared.

"Next they'll say that Humpty Dumpty was based off of the Revolutionary War," Celia giggled as Fauna pantomimed sending Foster and Lucian to bed.

"Or Jack and Jill was about a murder," Nicolette said, her hand to her mouth, "Jack and Jill went up the hill and then somebody pushed them!"

The laughter now was unbridled as Celia and Nicolette collapsed into hysterics. Foster and Lucian were still pouting by the petunias.

"I think those nursery rhymes encourage child abuse," Foster grumbled, crossing his arms.

"What he said," Lucian agreed.

Nicolette wiped a fake tear from the corner of her eye, "Oh don't be like that," she chided, "we're just having fun like you too were having with the caterpillar "fun facts" yesterday."

"You mean the one about the wasp that lays eggs inside a live caterpillar and then the babies eat it from the inside?" Lucian asked innocently.

"Eww!" Celia shrieked. She hated gross anatomy facts and small bugs. So having them both together was like having someone say that the Hermes cabin had left another cockroach carcass on her pillow.

"Wasps poll-OH-nate flowers," Fauna said matter of factly. She was proud of her extensive knowledge of plants and their relationship to bugs. Even is she couldn't quite pronounce photosynthesis.

"Of course they do. Why would a wasp want to eat caterpillar guts anyway?" Nicolette said rolling her eyes. Celia turned a sickly shade of green

"Why would anyone jump over a candlestick?" Lucian countered.

"Or cut off a blind mouse's tail with a carving knife?" Foster asked.

"I would like to have silver bells grow from a garden though," Nicolette said wistfully.

"And cockle shells! Cockle shells!" Fauna agreed.

"Mary, Mary, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells,

And pretty maids all in a row,"

Nicolette crowed.

"Why are there maids in a garden?" Lucian asked confused.

"Oh quit psychoanalyzing nursery rhymes and go water the daffodils," Nicolette sighed.

* * *

**AN: A lot of research went into naming the characters. For the Demeter cabin it was really about their names sounding sweet and sensitive. Nicolette was a bit of a stretch but I did like how Celia turned out. Of yes, I totally named a daughter of Demeter _Fauna_.**

**By the way, I'm not one hundred percent sure that the origins of the nursery rythmes are correct. But they make sense don't they?**


End file.
